


A Noun, a Verb, a Person

by SandrC



Series: I Wish to Lodge a Complaint [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Character Study, Duck is a good boy, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I love this ranger rick motherfucker, I'm weak for this shit, Last episode fucked me up, look dudes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-26 00:23:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16208795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandrC/pseuds/SandrC
Summary: Duck Newton is many things. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs.Duck Newton is all of these things at once.Duck Newton is none of these things at all.





	A Noun, a Verb, a Person

**Author's Note:**

> That new episode got me fucked UP!
> 
> This is how I cope.
> 
> (Not well, mdude...)

Duck Newton is many things. He has been many things since he was very little. Sometimes he wishes he was less.

Duck Newton is a big brother. Jane is his world, even little. Even as a small, small child, he holds tight to the joy and fear and love of seeing something so small and so soft and so dependant and thinking "yes, I will protect this". Jane is a small screaming mess of hair and flesh and drool and he clutches her to his chest and soothes her well into the morning. Even his mommy can't tear them apart and the older they get, the closer. And Big Brother Duck is the best he can and it is so so much.

Duck Newton is a Chosen One. He hates that one with all of him as time continues on. At first it's a real swell idea, being picked for something half as grand as saving the whole dang world, but time tarnishes the pretty right off that penny. Soon the name Minerva makes him ill, the sight of blue skin causes his skin to crawl, and the thought of being special makes him bloody his knuckles against the wall. That joy turns to anger turns to resentment. Soured for later tastes.

Duck Newton is a punk. He smokes in the bathroom and cuts class to hang in the woods. He fails quizzes and flunks tests to learn the migratory pattern of the native birds. He runs from curfew and watches hives swarm around a new queen. He stays up past dawn and learns the calls of owls. He is sharp edges and soft insides but no one will ever know.

Duck Newton is a disappointment. Shouldn't call him Duck in the first place—not his name—but didn't finish high school, didn't get into a good job, mooching off his mother. He wants to pursue a career in the forest, like a wild man. Go whole feral on his loving mother, who doesn't have enough time to praise him when Jane is doing so much good. Duck is a layabout while Jane does the world a favor. Failure, a waste, should have run away, like he threatened so many times.

Duck Newton is reliable. Always on time for his shift, never mind his cat. Always has coffee for whomever he's relieving, just the way they like it. Always takes good care of his part of the woods and never once has had a gun pulled on him, even during hunting season by boozed-up hillbillies. Always cares for his neighbors in a way that is reminiscent of Mr. Rogers and his safe and unassuming show. Everyone can trust Duck Newton.

Duck Newton is a bad liar. Always has been, always will be. Something about the way that his brain finds people and logics them out just isn't cohesive for lying so he babbles and rambles and stammers. He waves with his hands and he tries so damn hard but he just—! Lies don't come easy for him. And that's fine. That's fine. He doesn't need to lie. Not in his line of work. That's fine.

Duck Newton is strong. He may not look it, with his softer frame and tired, tired eyes, but he is. He is willing to do the tough thing even when he doesn't want to. He takes on burdens no one else will so that no one will have to. He smiles to keep others from frowning. He hurts so others do not. And he thinks he is weak but others do not.

Duck Newton is a big brother, sweeping Aubrey up in a safe warmth. Duck Newton is a Chosen One, stitching back together an enemy for morals wholly his own. Duck Newton is a punk, with the occasional cigarette on his patio, stubbed in an ashtray he stole from a bar so many years ago. Duck Newton is a disappointment, to himself only, as others do not see the faults he finds. Duck Newton is reliable, dragging a drunken Ned from the bar, fake exasperated as Aubrey starts his truck with a smile. Duck Newton is a bad liar, crooked grins and sorry sorry sorry and Juno just laughs because Ol' Duck who can't lie to save his life. Duck Newton is strong, in the hospital, an IV in his arm, weak smile, bad lie.

Duck Newton is many many things and he is so much more then even that.

He is Duck Newton and he is so so loved.


End file.
